“I’ve always been interested in music but the trigger for the business was 25 years ago when I met a senior scientist with Philips Austria who was settled in Pune,” Shirke said.Priyanka Sangani | ET Bureau | October 02, 2017, 09:12 IST

Coming from a business family with interests in infrastructure and construction, music was more of a hobby for the self-confessed Shirke.To most people, Ajay Shirke might be the former BCCI secretary who was part of the board when the Supreme Court decided to step in and fix India’s cricket administration.

However, to a small community of music aficionados, he’s probably the first name that comes to mind when it comes to high-end audio systems.

Music has always been a passion for the reticent 60 something year old, who divides his time between Pune and England.

“I’ve always been interested in music but the trigger for the business was 25 years ago when I met a senior scientist with Philips Austria who was settled in Pune,” he told ET during a chat at the newly set up Audio Lounge in Pune.

This chance meeting led to setting up Cadence, which launched its first product, a hybrid electrostatic speaker, in the early nineties to much critical global acclaim – but not as many sales.

“The perception of India in the 90s was very different,” said Shirke. Today, the group has $11 million in revenues and a distributor presence in almost 50 countries. One key component to this growth has been the strategic acquisitions Shirke has done in the last few years, from turntables and high-end cables.

“We decided that to grow the business, we would associate with similar companies headed by specialists in their field. We are not a topline driven company —we are clear that we want to be good at what we do, and do it our way,” said Shirke.

Coming from a business family with interests in infrastructure and construction, music was more of a hobby for the self-confessed audiophile who only listens to vinyl and master tapes, which then turned into a professional pursuit.

What puts Cadence in a unique position is that it has end-to-end control over this super premium segment where volumes tend to be fairly low, making it unviable for distributors to stock inventory.

“The market in India is bigger than thought to be. These are expensive products that you need to experience before you buy. Hence we took the plunge with this store after the first one in London,” he said.

It helps that vinyl is seeing a resurgence globally, and people in India are increasingly willing to spend more to set up media and entertainment systems. While he reluctantly admits digital music has come a long way in the last few years, it’s unlikely that he’ll start buying digital music anytime soon.